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Bill Nye the Science Guy: Life Science

Human Transportation (#621)

Transportation is on the move, whether it floats, rolls, or flies! Find out how humans move around for food, shelter, and to meet other humans. [21 minutes]

This episode has not aired in the past few months on Iowa Public Television.

Series Description: Follow the Science Guy through an award-winning series of fast-paced, entertaining programs packed with Life Science. In the world of Nye Labs, students learn about their bodies and other life-science related topics through comedy, interviews with real scientists and hands-on, easy-to-replicate experiments.

All Episodes

In any given environment there are hundreds of varieties of plants and animals living together, creating ecosystems. Bill Nye literally sets up office in an ocean, a forest, and a field to commune with nature and show what happens when one link falls out of nature's chain.
[21 minutes]

In this thought-provoking episode some very tricky optical illusions show that the brain doesn't always correctly interpret what it sees. Check out Bill Nye from a whole new angle when he gets an M.R.I. of his brain. [20 minutes]

Follow Bill out on a limb when he goes swinging through the trees in Washington, Florida, Texas, and California to bring viewers close to the tallest and possibly oldest living things in the world. Examine a real forest fire to see what it does to help a forest's ecosystem. A forest ecologist climbs to the forest canopy to study what's going on up there.
[23 minutes]

You may not believe it, but these 'spineless wonders' far outnumber those of us animals with backbones. Bill shares invertebrates' unique characteristics and explains why we are dependent on them. [20 minutes]

Marine mammals may look like big fish, but the Science Guy explains how they're more like humans. Listen closely to hear mammals communicate underwater and find out how our 'relatives at sea' have found ways to live in oceans all around the world. [23 minutes]

Every time you look at, hear, touch, smell, or taste something, your brain collects information about the world around you. People deal with that information by finding patterns. To define and describe the patterns we see in nature, humans invented a special language -- math -- the language of patterns. With computers, finding, creating and studying patterns with math has become faster and easier than ever! [22 minutes]

The sense of smell helps us interpret our environment and react to the things around us by letting us know when new smells are close-by. Other animals, like dogs, use their sense of smell even more than we do. Noses receive a smell, then the olfactory part of the brain decodes the many messages it gets, and lets you know that, yes, your feet are truly smelly. [21 minutes]

Bill Nye sloshes across American wetlands and gets a little muddy as he shows us how swamps, bogs, and marshes help control floods, naturally filter water, and provide a good home to lots of living things, especially wildlife. [23 minutes]

Bill bones up on the things that give the body its shape and movement. He muscles in to give more than just the bare bones about X-rays, the healing of broken bones, bone marrow, and the body's joints. [21 minutes]

Bill Nye focuses his attention on the body's window to the world--the eyeball. Bill also interviews a Seeing Eye dog trainer and a virtual reality designer, and demonstrates how a 3-D movie works. [21 minutes]

Bill's knowledge on the subject of germs is positively contagious! The Science Guy illustrates the various types of germs and how they function. The recurring character 'Mama Crust' motivates kids to brush their teeth, wash their hands, and cut way back on picking their noses. [22 minutes]

Bill Nye explores the mysterious world of insects and talks to special guest Queen Latifah, who's abuzz about her other favorite queens...Bees. The lab kids go exploring at an insectorium and go digging for insect fossils. [23 minutes]

You are what you eat! That's right...Everything from your eyeballs to your elbows is made of food! Bill tells us what kinds of nutrients are in each bite and what foods are best for healthy bodies. [23 minutes]

Join Bill Nye for adventure, thrills, and scaly encounters that would make Indiana Jones squeamish when he explores reptiles. Witness reptilian epicurean delights when a snake eats a mouse, and ponder the possible link between dinosaurs, reptiles, and birds. [22 minutes]

What's the largest living organ on the human body? Answer: Skin. Bill Nye explains the naked truth about the organ that regulates our body temperature, protects our inner parts, and provides us with the sense of touch. [23 minutes]

The Science Guy demystifies this most misunderstood creature. He'll cure the most intense case of arachnophobia by showing how cool spiders really are, and how these eight-legged predators spin their webs and balance our ecosystem by preying on pesky insects. [21 minutes]